Though Rhys had certainly taken her last breath in Theophane’s arms, when she opened her eyes, she found herself in Calles’ embrace. Rhys abruptly sat up and looked around.

A warm spring breeze was blowing through the window. The scenery was familiar.

“Where am I?”

“The Agente villa. My goodness… you seem to be in quite poor condition, Rhys.”

Suddenly, her mind cleared. Looking at her hand, she saw no ring yet. If she was at the Agente villa with Calles during this period…

It was before their marriage, before she had even received his proposal.

Calles, who had somehow drawn closer to Rhys, naturally placed his hand on her forehead. His expression showed concern for her as she broke into a cold sweat in her confusion.

“In any case, your health is my greatest worry… I should go fetch some good medicine.”

Rhys finally met his gaze. Those beast-like eyes were looking at her affectionately.

“Just open the door, Calles. The doctor said it’s not contagious.”

“He said it would be detrimental for you to wander around the mansion. Stay quietly in your room.”

“What? I’m ill, not a criminal!”

“…Aprilis, are you daring to raise your voice at me?”

Over the affectionate appearance of her fiancé before her eyes, the image of him from those terrible times when he seemed like a monster overlapped.

“Rhys, are you listening to me?”

“If you talk back to me one more time, know that you’ll find yourself locked in the storage room.”

“Aprilis!”
She flinched. Only when the same voice echoed did Rhys come back to her senses. Calles was gripping her shoulders.

“You need to rest.”

“I have a severe headache. I’ll feel better if I rest alone for a while.”

“Very well. When I return next, I’ll bring something good for headaches.”

Calles kissed the back of her hand with fluid grace.

After watching him leave the room, Rhys took out a handkerchief and roughly wiped the back of her hand. The feeling of his lips on her skin, like insects crawling, wouldn’t go away.

“…Hah.”

To think she had returned to the time when he acted so sweet. She unconsciously released the breath she’d been holding.

Before her life ended, this was an opportunity she never thought would come. Responding emotionally would be foolish.

In the brief moment of reunion with Calles, Rhys had already made her decision.

To prevent him from possessing her. No—to ensure he couldn’t have anything he desired.

She would never again live a life manipulated by Calles.

***

“Come to think of it, your birthday is approaching.”

The next morning, Calles appeared with a cart loaded with all sorts of healthy ingredients, suggesting they have a meal together.

“Rhys, is there a gift you’d like?”

“I wonder. I’m not a child, and I have enough already.”

Rhys answered casually while cutting her beef. Though she had resolved not to respond emotionally…

No matter what, facing such devoted attention with a smile was no easy task.

“Hmm, true. Someone who once received land as a birthday gift probably wouldn’t be impressed by ordinary presents.”

Rhys, who had been cutting with her knife listlessly, paused and looked at Calles.

“Are you referring to Laskaria?”

“Yes. How did it feel to receive your father’s great achievement as a gift? Incomparable to anything else, I imagine.”

Calles smiled as he spoke, as if truly impressed.

In the year Rhys turned twelve, her father reported that the Sylvester family was plotting treason against the imperial family. The heads of the Sylvester household, charged with the serious crime of treason, were executed, and all those suspected of involvement were either killed or imprisoned.

That year, Rhys received Laskaria, formerly Sylvester land, as a birthday gift.

At that moment, receiving as a gift the land that should have been Theophane’s inheritance—what expression had her young self worn? Rhys’s hand tightened on the knife.

“How would a child understand the value of land? Back then, I probably would have preferred a necklace with sapphires.”

“Haha, I suppose so.”

“I wasn’t particularly interested in Laskaria afterward either. So…”

Laskaria became barren land. The administrator who managed the land in place of its disinterested owner lorded over the territory’s people, and those living there suffered various forms of discrimination.

Though aware, she deliberately chose not to intervene. Originally, Rhys was merely that thoughtless a child.

Calles, who knew this well, easily obtained ownership of Laskaria right after their marriage, and from then on began to view Rhys differently.

Yes, losing Laskaria was the first button to be undone in Calles revealing his true nature.

“So?”

Such misfortune must not be repeated. The bud needed to be cut from the start.

“I want to return the land to its rightful owner.”

“…What?”

“I want to give Laskaria back. To Sylvester.”

In the way that would most trouble those who had driven her to death.

***

Rhys stared at herself in the mirror with an expressionless face.

Skin with a healthy glow, shining silver hair, and purple eyes just like her father’s. The noble lady with a relaxed, languid impression but occasionally appearing precarious used to prepare herself while looking in this mirror.

Now she felt no such inclination. Rhys rose from her vanity chair.

“The Duke has urgently summoned you… My Lady, I think you should go quickly.”

The voice that had delivered the news in terror echoed in Rhys’s ears.

Rhys did not hesitate to act on what she had declared to Calles. Her father’s eyes and ears were everywhere, not only in the territory but even in the Agente villa on the capital. Rhys knew well that it was only a matter of time before her father learned of her independent action.

As she crossed the corridor of the luxurious Agente mansion, Rhys recalled her father from her previous life. He must have known about her dying situation after marriage, yet he did not help his only daughter.

As if he wished she would quietly disappear…

“Your Grace, the Lady has arrived.”

In the study of Duke Mikhail Agente, Rhys stood before a man with sharp eyes, always cold and flawless in his conduct.

Her father’s gaze, which had intimidated her just by looking at it, remained the same. Though her father had never particularly scolded her, she had lived treating his words as if they were imperial decrees.

But nothing was more frightening now than the days she spent alone fighting illness or the death that had approached her. Thinking this, she was able to straighten her body that habitually shrank before her father’s gaze.

“You said you would return Laskaria to Sylvester. Is what I heard true?”

Mikhail uttered his business before even asking about his daughter’s well-being after a long time. His cold voice, befitting a face carved like ice, resonated low in the study.

“Yes. It’s true.”

“You do understand the significance of that land, don’t you?”

A sharp response came immediately. Rhys inhaled as she met his gaze directly.

“It’s land bestowed by the founding emperor to his meritorious subjects when establishing this country, Preteria, and land cultivated by countless ancestors who shed their blood.”

“I can’t believe this decision came from someone who understands its meaning. Withdraw your order.”

Mikhail’s command was firm as he looked down authoritatively at his daughter’s upright posture.
However, Rhys had no intention of backing down.

“That would be difficult, Father.”

In the silence, father and daughter’s gazes met tensely. Seeing this unfamiliar attitude from his daughter for the first time, Mikhail couldn’t take his eyes off her, but eventually turned away as if tired.

“Aprilis, do you know why I gave that land to you, a child who knew nothing?”

The words Mikhail uttered in a somewhat softened tone were something Rhys had never heard in her previous life. Just as Rhys was about to respond belatedly, an aide urgently entered the study.

“Your Grace, the lord of Sylvester has arrived.”

“…What?”

Mikhail’s brow furrowed deeply. He seemed flustered by the appearance of someone he hadn’t expected. As he motioned for the visitor to be let in, Rhys smiled, invisible to him.

From the moment she had prepared to face her father, she hadn’t intended to come without preparation.

The guest Rhys had arranged had arrived on time.

Heavy footsteps, right on schedule, were heard.

A scent that should have been unfamiliar but was familiar to Rhys wafted into the study. The jet-black hair and blue eyes that had once looked at her were drawing closer.

The man who approached to stand beside Rhys bowed his head before the head of House Agente.

“I am honored to meet another pillar of Preteria.”